14 Life and Love. 



These cells are cylindrical in shape and lie side 

 by side, each with a spot of condensed protoplasm 

 called a nucleus, and around the nucleus and 

 touching the surrounding cell wall is the trans- 

 parent protoplasm, looking like the white of egg. 

 The walls of these cells arc tough and strong and 

 are made by the protoplasm within. 



The cell walls are not alive, any more than an 

 egg-shell is alive. Only the protoplasm is alive. 



The skin of the onion is made up of millions of 

 these little cells lying side by side, and if we 

 examine the other parts of the onion we find them 

 each made up of cells lying close together, the 

 only difference being that the cells assume differ- 

 ent shapes in different tissues. But all are essen- 

 tially alike, living protoplasm within, surrounded 

 by a protecting wall. 



If, instead of the onion, we were to examine a 

 bit of muscle under the microscope we should find 

 that too made up of cells lying close together. A 

 carefully prepared section of bone would also show 

 us the cell with its protoplasm within, but this 

 time surrounded by a strong fortification of lime. 

 The lime, which forms the hard part of the bone, 

 is not alive, only the tiny drop of protoplasm within 

 the lime fortress is living. This protoplasm has 

 the power to extract the lime from the blood which 

 flows about it and build the bony framework, and 

 this framework as seen under the microscope is 

 almost as beautiful as a snow-flake, with its spicules 

 of lime raying out from the centre. 



